Road marker



April 1930. G. w. BETTES 5 I ROAD MARKER Filed June 13, 1927 v 2 Sheets-Sheet l lnuenTor April 1930. G. w. BETTES 1,753,593

ROAD MARKER Filed June 15. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 14a i v iguenTor George W. 3e1fes Patented Apr. 8, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE W.IBETTES, OF SPARTA, MICHIGAN ROAD MARKER Application filed June 13,

This invention relates to a road or street marking machine. I have heretofore devised and patented a road marking machine as disclosed in my Patent N o.f1,594,591 issued August 3, 1926, and the present invention is conconnection with the accompanying drawings,

in which Fig. l is a side elevation of the road markin machine of my invention.

ig. 2is a fragmentary enlarged vertical section through the machine between the opposite sides thereof. 7

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through the machine showing the spreading roller and the paint holding trough into which said roller extends.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical section through a side of the transfer roller which transfers paint to the road surface over which it runs.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section illust-rative of a modified form ofthe invention, and

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section substantially on the plane of the line 6 in Fig. 5.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the difierent figures of the drawings.

In the construction of the machine, a frame is provided having two lower horizontal side bars 1 from the rear ends of whichvertical bars 2 extend, with diagonally placed bars 3 connecting the upper ends of the vertical bars and the front end portions of the horizontal bars. A roller 2 is mounted between the lower ends of the vertical bars 2 as shown in Fig. 1. Handle bars 4 are secured at their front ends to the diagonal bars 3, extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom, and are adjustably mounted on rods 5 by means of bolts and thumb nuts 6, the handle bars 4 being slotted to permit the adjustment.

An axle 7 is mounted on and extends between the bars 1 near their front ends, on which a spider 8 having a plurality of diverg- 1927. Serial No. 198,573.

ing arms is rotatablycarried, said arms serving asspokes of awheel, the rim 9,0f metal, being detachably connectedto the outer ends of the spokes. Over the outer side of the rim 9 a cushion ring 10, of sponge rubber, felt or like material is placed and secured overwhich is a band 11 of impervious material which in practice may be rubber; while over the band 11 a canvas covering 12 is placed and detachably secured. A convenient way of detachably securing the covering is to make the covering 11 wider than thewidth of the .rim 9,'cushioning member 10 and band 12, the

overlapping edge portions extending inwardly'and being formed at their extremities into loops in which coiled springs 13 are housed, the tendency of which is to contract and thus draw the covering securely against the band 11. It is evident that this covering 12 may be easily removed by stretching a spring at one side of the wheel until an opening is made large enough to slip the covering from the wheel. new covering may be put in place of the old one should it become worn or so impregnated with paint that it does not properly perform its functions. 7

A tank 14 having an openingat its upper end, normally closed by an air tightplug .15, is permanently secured to the frame of the machine at the upper portion thereof. The 86 tank has an outlet at its lower end through which the paint escapes thru a valve casing 16 having a manually operable valve which may be opened or closed. The paint passes downwardly through a hose or pipe 17 to a trough 18 of sheet metal which is disposed between and carried by the two horizontal sidebars l of the frame. By meansof suitable elbow couplings 19 passing through a side of the trough .18, the paint carried through thepipe 17, is conducted to the interior of the trough and into therterminal pipe 20 mountedon the inner elbow 19 and which has a handle 21 projecting therefrom so that it may be turned to a plurality of positions, one being shownin full lines in Fig.- 2 and two others being shown in dotted lines. The paint will flow from the tank 14 as long as air to, replace it may be carried backthrough the conduit made by the pipes 13%) III on the bars 1 at the The trough 18 is located directly back of the transfer wheel covered by the canvas covering 12. It is mounted on the bar-s1 by means of rods 22 riveted at their lower ends to the trough and extending upwardly andv to the rear trough brackets 23 fixed to the inner sides of said bars 1. The upper free ends ofthe rods 22 are threaded and thumb nuts 2% are screwed on to the ends of said rods against the brackets 23. The ends'of the trough 18' near the front are provided with curved slots 25 through which bolts'26, 7

carried by the bars 1, pass to support the front side of the trough and render it adjustable so as to bring the front side of the trough closely adjacent to the transfer roller wheel.

7 A spreading roller 27 is mounted on a shaft 28 whichext'ends between the two lower horizontal bars 1 so of the spreading roller extends into the trough 18 and into the paint carried thereby. The ends of the shaft 28 arerotatably mounted in bearing blocks 29, slidably mounted in recesses in the upper sides of the bars 1 and retained in place by stirrups 30 attached to said bars and lying over the upper sides of the blocks. Coiled tension springs 31 are attached to the bearing blocks 29 at their rear ends, and at their front ends are connected by hook bolts 32 adjustably mounted front portions thereof, as shown in Fig. 1. draw the spreading roller forward so as to bring its surface into contacting engagement with the, covering'lZ f the transfer roller or wheel. v l

In operation the machine is pushed over the pavement with the transfer roller run-. ning' thereover, so that itv rotates by direct contact with said pavement. or road. The spreading roller 27 is frictionfllly driven by reason of its engagement with the transfer roller. The spreading roller runs through the paint, some of which adheres to the outersurface thereof, and is delivered to the covering 12 whichtakes the paint up and in a sense absorbs it, carrying it from the point of contact with the spreader roller to the surface of the road, where it is applied upon the road or pavement, over which the transferring roller passes.

With different kinds of paint the depth that the spreading roller should extend into the paint varies and it is very easy to control this depth of extension by merely grasping the handle 21 and movthat the lower portion The springs. 31 act tov ing the pipe 20, to which it is connected, to the proper position.

The pressure of the spreading roller against the covering of the transfer roller evenly distributes the paint over such covering, the underneath cushion ring yielding as much as required, so that an even spread of paint from the spreading roller to the transfer roller is had. In practice the width of the rim of the spreading roller should be somewhat less, than the width of the rim of the transfer roller in order that there may not be excess paint at the edges of the transfer roller which would be transferred in'beads of paint to the road at the edgesof the mark made. This variation in relative widths is optional.

ln'F gs- 5 and 6 a m ifie n t uction is shown wherein the tank 14 with its closing cap is replaced; by a tank 14 having a light closing cap orplug 15, the tank, however, beinglocated at a lower position in the struction the paint holding trough, open'at its upper side, is supplied by the trough 18 which is permanently secured in front of the lower end portion of the tank 14 The spreading roller 27 extends into this trough even as in the first described structure such roller extends into the trough 18. Alined openings 33 are made the front side of the tank 1% adjacent to itslower end and in the back side of the trough so that the paint may escape from the tank into the trough. The level of the paint is controlled by agate 3a vertically slidable between the adjacent front and rear sides of the tank and trough and having suitable packing material 35 associated so that paint will not escape around the edges of the gate. The gate at its upper edge is formed with a forwardly turned flange while an angle 36 is fastened to the front side of the tank, a distance above it. An adjusting bolt 37, with a thumb nut at its upper end passes through the flange and angle for controllin the position of the gate. will pass from the tank into the, trough until the levelof the lower edge of the, gate is reached.

7 With the upperclosing plug 1 531: 15}, valve 16 being movedto closed position or the gate 3% being moved to its lower position during the time of filling the tank. Then after the airtight closing plug has been replaced, valve 16 may be opened, or the gate 3& elevated, to permitthe paint'to flow into the trough to th desired height controlled by the gate, shown in structure in Fig.5, and by the position of the lower end of the pipe 20 in the structureshown in Figs. 1 and 2, The paint willremain at the predetermined lected level, that which is taken by the spread-' 1 ,2 r ler b ing epl ce m. th a k-I The cover ng 12 lasts: for a considerable Paint 3..

either of the constructions shown the a k may b fi led i h paint y r mov ng time, but wears out long before the life of the machine is ended, necessitating its replacement from time to time, which can be easily done as previously described. The

6 material of this covering, preferably,is canvas as I have found the same to be very satisfactory, although there are many other materials which will serve the purpose almost, if not quite as well. The paint is taken up by this covering from the spreading roller and transferred from the covering to the road over which the machine is passed, leaving a plainand regular mark wherever the transfer roller has passed. This construction is very practical and with it the paint flows freely to the trough without danger of obstructions causedby lumps or other obstructions in the paint. It is relatively simple and economical to produce.

The invention defined in the appended claims are to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structures coming within. their scope.

I claim: 7

1. A road marking machine comprising, a transfer roller covered with paint holding material, said roller being adapted to ride over the surface of a road andbe rotated by frictional engagement therewith, a spreading roller bearing against the transfer roller and rotated thereby, a trough for holding paint into which the spreading roller extends at its lower portion, a tank for holding a large quantity of paint located above the 2.. trough, and a conduit for carrying paint from the lower end of the tank to said trough, sald conduit extending into the trough andhaving its lower end at a predetermined position, whereby when the paint rises above the lower end of said conduit the flow of paint from the tank to the trough is stopped, thereby maintaining the paint in said trough at a substantially constant level, said conduit at the lower portion thereof within the trough i being manually adjustable to difierent positions to vary the height of the lower end of said conduit with respect to the bottom of the trough, whereby the level of paint in said trough may be selectively determined.

2. A road marking machine comprising, a transfer roller having its periphery covered with paint holding material and adapted to ride over the surface of a road and to be rotated by frictional engagement therewith, a spreading roller bearing against the transfer roller and rotatedthereby, a trough for holding paint into which the spreading roller extends at its lower portion, a tank for holding a large quantity of paint located above the trough, a terminal pipe associated with I the periphery of transfer roller having its periphery covered with paint holding material and adapted to ride over the surface of a road, a spreading roller having its periphery bearing against the transfer roller the periphery of the spreading roller being narrower thanthe periphery of the transfer roller, and means for supplying paint to the periphery of the spreading roller which in i turn applies paint to the periphery of the transfer roller.

4. A road-marking machine comprising, a transfer roller adapted to ride over the surface of a road and to be rotated by frictional engagement therewith, a spreading roller bearing against the transfer roller and rotated thereby, a trough for holding paint into which the spreading roller extends at its lower portion, a tank for holding a large portion of paint. located above the trough, a supply pipe extending from said tank to said trough, the lower end of said supply pipe having pivoted connection with the upper portion thereof whereby the outlet end of the pipe may be adjusted vertically relative to the trough.

5. In a road-markin transfer mechanism inc uding a trough for holding paint, a transfer device partially submerged in the paint in the trough, a tank for holding a large quantity of paint located above the trough, and a supply pipe extending from said tank to said trough, the lower portion of said supply pipe having pivoted connection to the upper portion thereof whereby the outlet end of the supply pipe may be adjusted vertically relative to the trough. In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE W. BETTES.

machine, a paint the trough and having its outlet end adjust- 

